Well, I'm not getting very far on my intended blog here... the first three days, plus the Sunday before the course started, have been non-stop. With the exception of Sunday, when we started at 9am and finished at 6pm, every day has been 8.30am to somewhere between 7pm and 8pm, with barely 15min to grab some tofu, yoghurt, and fruit salad from the supermarket downstairs to eat at the desk while preparing teaching points and stuff...
I'm under the impression that it's not always like this. Our school doesn't currently have a Main Course Tutor (MCT), and it's the MCT who makes decisions about time-tabling, course-books, etc... So we invite MCT's to join us for each course, at the moment, and once they arrive they give me all the info and I start preparing. Seeing as some tutors do things quite differently, that can mean lots of extra work - so, schools with established syllabi and schedules can use roughly the same material, assignments, etc, again... which is what we're aiming for for next year. So, looking forward to the stability and reduced preparation that'll come with that.
In the meantime... I now have a few minutes to blog away, so here's a bit about the course so far.
Me and Confidence
Not much to say here. I'm generally fairly confident, especially when it comes to Input Sessions (ie. the training workshops/presentations). Confident enough when it comes to assessing lessons, giving feedback and drawing attention to important points. Same for helping trainee's prep lessons.
Me and Worries
I don't get nervous when teaching, never really have, but nerves and worry are different things. I do still worry about doing the first 120min of teaching on that first day. The trainees observe the first lesson and it's important that I give a decent example of the various techniques and procedures we expect them to include by the end of the course.
It always goes well, but that doesn't stop me from worrying that I might not be giving a poor example in certain aspects or that I might leave something important out the next time I do it. The trainees get 10 chances to show me a good lesson, but I only get 1 chance to show them, so in that rare occasion that I don't do very well... well, I'd hate to lose their confidence in me on the very first day!
But, yes, this one went very well and more importantly the follow up reflection got us talking about lots of important things!
Areas I Need to Work On
I write too much.
No, not in my blog - in my observation/assessment of teacher's practice lessons. I'm constantly trying to keep a complete running tally of everything that's going on in the class on top of trying to extract and record the key strengths and areas for improvement. The other tutor, who is much more experienced, saw my notes and said I didn't need to write so much - it's the strengths and areas for improvement that are key, so make those the focus, and take other notes when time allows. Going much more smoothly since he said that.
I have to watch my timing!
Wow, we're always telling trainee teachers of the importance and making sure their lessons finish on time while including all the aims of the lesson... and here I am, with an Input Session going 20min over time just to make sure all the trainees get to practice the techniques presented - I should've had an optional component ready to drop to make sure the practice was included without going over time. I nearly messed up the other tutor's session because he ended up having to start about 25min late!
The Course
I'm used to teachers having 6 x 40min TP sessions and 2 x 60min TP sessions, but this time they're doing 8 x 30mins and 2 x 60mins. At first, the change from 40min to 30min sessions sounded like it wouldn't be a major change. Two extra teaching practice sessions per teacher = more preparation; short sessions = less preparation. It balances out in the end... but things are never that simple are they...
It used to be:
Mon: I teach
Tue: Trainee's 1, 2 and 3 teach.
Wed: Trainee's 4, 5 and 6 teach.
- and repeat -
This meant various important things:
- Tue/Wed = each trainee's first lesson = the approach to feedback is the same for both days, then changes for Thu/Fri when they're each doing their second lesson.
- Trainee 1 teaches Tue, Thu, etc... Trainee 4 teaches Wed, Fri etc... = they always have two days to prepare lessons.
- It's easy to change the order teaches teach in (ie. Tue 1-2-3, Thu 2-3-1, Mon 3-1-2, etc)
This time it's:
Mon: I teach
Tue: Trainee's 1,2,3,4
Wed: Trainee's 3,4,5,6
- and you can't really repeat, because Thu is: 1,2,5,6... so the repetition starts a day late -
And it also means:
- Tue/Wed = some teachers are doing first lessons only, others are doing first and second lessons = approach to feedback has to be done very differently for half the lessons on Wed => tricky!
- Trainee 1 teaches Tue, Thu, Fri, Trainee 3 teaches Tue, Wed, Fri, Trainee 5 teaches Wed, Thu... so confusing, AND they sometimes have two days to prepare but sometimes have only one day to prepare. The routine's pretty tricky.
- It's also frustrating to change the order teaches teach in... 3 goes 3rd on Tue and 1st on Wed, so what position should he/she teach in on Fri?
Don't get me wrong. 30min sessions mean teachers have 10 chances to practice, 10 opportunities to get feedback, and 10 opportunities to improve aspects they need/want to work on. There are plenty of advantages.
But if you're a tutor - be prepared. A small change in procedure can mean a major change in the course overall and requires a major change in your mindset!
Me and Stress Levels
I think you can tell from Blog - I'm not altogether with it... still thinking about teaching points, feedback, assignments, admin docs for the visiting assessor, "CELTA 5" (the blue book) records, input sessions, how much extra work I'm going to be doing over the weekend, etc... and my mind's not fully on the blog.
Overall Feelings
